Interview Questions for Occupational Contacts
A. General
1. Does your organization have any experience in assessing the qualifications of internationally educated professionals and advising or providing information, tools, referrals or other support on alternative careers?
2. Is there a demand for alternative career information/referral resources/other supports for internationally trained applicants intending to be licensed in your profession? Do you know what percentage of applicants would benefit from this?
B. Alternative Careers for Your Profession
1. What types of alternative careers might be applicable for internationally educated professionals while they pursue licensure for the profession, or as an alternative to the profession as a result of non-recognition of their qualifications?
2. What are the competencies / related skills relevant to both these alternative careers and your profession?
3. What suggestions do you have for the messaging around alternative careers for your profession (how can or should alternative careers be presented as an option to internationally educated professionals)?
C. Current Alternative Career Supports
1. What kinds of alternative career supports (information, referrals to other organizations, processes, tools, programs, etc.) are in place for internationally educated professsionals who intend to practice in your profession? Please describe these supports in detail.
i. Who developed them?
ii. Who administers them?
iii. At what point in the assessment and recognition process are they being utilized?
iv. Are the outcomes of the applicants tracked?
D. Improving Alternative Career Supports
1. What are the gaps in the availability and delivery of alternative career supports (information, referrals, processes, tools, programs, etc.) and in your view how can they be best addressed?
2. From your organization’s point of view, at what point should internationally educated
professionals receive information about alternative careers? Before assessment of qualifications?
Foreign Qualifications Recognition and Alternative Careers 64 Or after assessment (when it has been determined that the applicant needs skill upgrading/ is not licensable without significant retraining)?
3. Is there an obvious window in your current assessment and recognition process for providing information/referrals to alternative careers supports?
4. How can alternative careers be identified and matched to existing competencies? Who is best placed to do this work?
5. What sorts of supports would be most useful and why (e.g. information, tools, referrals, programs, etc.)?
E. Developing Alternative Career Supports
1. Who is best placed to be responsible for funding, developing and delivering alternative career supports (please specify which type of alternative support)?
2. What role do you see your organization playing in providing alternative careers supports (funding, developing, delivering, or other)?
3. What kinds of partnerships are necessary to support this work and how can they best be formed?
F. Other
1. Would you suggest other individuals or groups that I should contact regarding alternative careers?
2. Any other suggestions?
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Interview Questions for Immigrant Serving Organizations and Related Organizations
Aim: To determine what successful alternative career supports (programs/services/tools) for internationally educated professionals (IEPs) look like, how these supports are delivered, and what is needed by organizations to put these supports in place.
Thank you for taking part in this research study on Foreign Qualifications Recognition and Alternative Careers. The study (for which Citizenship and Immigration Canada is the lead contact) is part of the work of federal/provincial/territorial governments to implement a Pan Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications. The research is intended to contribute to a better understanding of alternative careers for internationally educated professionals (IEPs) and the
development of recommendations for alternative career services and tools.
Alternative careers are "career options that immigrants pursue other than, but related to, the regulatory profession in which they were originally trained, that make use of and relate to an immigrant’s skills and experience" (current working definition for the study).
The research will gather information on the alternative career experience and the needs of different groups involved in alternative career related work, such as regulatory bodies, national associations, immigrant-service organizations, career counselling services, educational institutes, and IEPs themselves.
A. Your Organization’s Programs
1. What programs/services/tools provided by your organization relate to alternative careers for IEPs that are or were seeking to practise in a regulated profession in Canada?
2. Please describe in detail these programs/services/tools.
a. How does it help IEPs?
b. What is the target group of IEPs?
c. What is the client uptake per year?
d. How long has each program/service/tool been in existence (in months or years)?
e. At what point do IEPs receive information about your programs/services/ tools that relate to alternative careers:
pre-arrival in Canada?
before assessment of qualifications for their intended profession?
after assessment of qualifications by a national association or regulatory
authority in their field, when IEPs are informed that they either do not qualify to practice in the profession in Canada or require significant upskilling?
f. At what point do IEPs make use of your programs/services/tools that relate to alternative careers:
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pre-arrival in Canada
before assessment of qualifications for their intended profession
after assessment of qualifications by a national association or regulatory
authority in their field, when IEPs are informed that they either do not qualify to practice in the profession in Canada or require significant upskilling?
g. Can you identify any outcomes from your programs/services/tools to date? Can you provide any quantitative or qualitative data on these outcomes?
3. Who were the partners that were involved in developing your programs/ services/ tools that relate to alternative careers?
4. Who are the partners involved in the delivery of your programs/services/ tools that relate to alternative careers? (For example, regulatory bodies, professional associations, employers, etc.) 5. How did you identify and engage partners for your programs/services/tools that relate to
alternative careers?
6. What works well in your programs/services/tools and why?
7. What are some of the challenges you faced in developing your programs/services/tools that relate to alternative careers?
8. What are some of the challenges you faced in delivering your programs/services/tools?
B. Alternative Careers for IEPs
1. How did you determine which alternative careers are most suitable for IEPs in different fields?
2. In determining suitable alternative careers, did you use an occupational analysis of competencies to look at related knowledge, skills and abilities and/or existing career counseling job
classification/cluster charts?
3. Are the alternative careers presented to IEPs non-regulated occupations related to the original intended occupations of the IEPs? Or are they regulated occupations with a related scope of practice, but lower level of competency requirement?
4. How did you determine the competencies required for the alternative careers?
5. How are the competencies of IEPs assessed for these alternative careers?
C. Suggestions for Developing Alternative Career Supports
Foreign Qualifications Recognition and Alternative Careers 67 1. What lessons learned or best practices can you share regarding the development and delivery of
your programs/services/tools that relate to alternative careers?
2. Do you have any suggestions for the ideal delivery system or format for alternative career programs/ services/tools ?
3. What needs to be in place to develop and deliver/disseminate programs/services /tools on alternative careers?
4. Do you have any suggestions for ensuring the sustainability of existing or to-be-developed programs/services/tools?
5. How can alternative career supports engage and reach different stakeholders at various stages:
a. Pre-arrival of IEP b. Pre-assessment of IEP
c. Post assessment of IEP D. Other
1. Can you suggest IEPs whom I should interview about their experience in finding alternative careers?
I would like to be put in contact with them if possible. What steps need to be taken prior to passing on their contact information?
2. Any additional comments/concerns/suggestions about alternative careers for IEPs?
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Interview Questions for IEPs
Note: Bullet points will not be included in the list of questions sent to IEPs, but the interviewer will try to elicit information on these points during interviews.
1. What made you decide to pursue a different career from your original profession?
Concept of alternative career
Willingness to change careers
Participation in programs/use of tools
2. How did you choose this new career? How does this new career relate to your original profession?
Relationship between original profession/training and new career
Participation in programs/use of tools
Success rates & experience working in alternative career
3. What would have helped you when you were choosing a different career in Canada? (How can immigrants to Canada be helped if they need to or want to choose another career in Canada?)
Optimal timing for career information
Views on messaging around alternative careers
Suggestions for development and dissemination of tools
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